[Foreign Minister calls for action]

Kota Tinggi MP Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, who is also Foreign Minister, said he was pleased with the interest that the Johor Bigfoot has generated overseas.

Referring to footage recently shown on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service, he said the report on Bigfoot sightings and footprints here had put Johor on the world map.

Speaking to reporters at the Umno Kota Tinggi division family day here yesterday, Syed Hamid said: “It’s important that Johor through the relevant departments takes the necessary action to keep the Bigfoot interest going.

“They can set up some Bigfoot paraphernalia in Kota Tinggi or identify areas with frequent Bigfoot sightings and preserve the evidence for promoting eco-tourism.”

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The LONGER VERSION of the story:

Kota Tinggi MP Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, who is also Foreign Minister, said he was pleased with the great interest generated abroad by the Johor Bigfoot.

Referring to footage recently shown on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World Service, he said the report on Bigfoot sightings and footprints here had put Johor on the world map.

Speaking to reporters at the Umno Kota Tinggi division family day function here yesterday, Syed Hamid said: "It’s important that Johor through the relevant departments takes the necessary action to keep the Bigfoot interest going.

"They can set up some Bigfoot paraphernalia in Kota Tinggi or identify areas with frequent Bigfoot sightings and preserve the evidence for promoting eco-tourism."

Meanwhile, bio-diversity researcher Vincent Chow said the State Forestry and Wildlife Departments should take up Syed Hamid’s suggestion to collect evidence on the many Bigfoot sightings here.

He said the Wildlife Department should set up an action team to immediately investigate reports of Bigfoot sightings.

"The most recent sighting of a Bigfoot by two plantation workers in Ulu Sungai Johor could have been optimised by the Wildlife Department to collect a lot of information, and possibly even get a photograph of the creature.

"The workers said they had seen similar creatures near the river on several occasions."

Chow said if the Wildlife Department had stationed rangers there, they could have obtained proof of the creature.

Chow said the workers also claimed to have seen the Bigfoot carrying a wild boar and tearing it to pieces for its meal.

"If wildlife experts had been there and collected the wild boar’s carcass, they could have tested it for DNA from the Bigfoot’s saliva."

Chow added that the Wildlife Department should equip its action team with audio and video recording instruments.

He said it was not necessary for the Bigfoot expedition team to concentrate on Endau-Rompin National Park, as the creature appeared to be more in Kota Tinggi.

"The expedition should be limited to areas where the Bigfoot has been seen (recently), as the Bigfoot sightings in Endau-Rompin were recorded more than a decade ago."

Bibliographical Information:

The New Straits Times was founded in 1845. The NST is the oldest newspaper in Asia. It was the first newspaper service to report on the giant ape incidents in Malaysia in the 1960's. It was also the first paper to report on the more recent rash of incidents.